These Twisted Links
by scared of clouds
Summary: A collection of drabbles about the relationships between the Marauders, Lily, and Snape, all written for prompts submitted on Tumblr.
1. Safe Haven

**Prompt: Can you write something about James and Sirius amazing bromance?**

 **Rating: T**

* * *

James groaned and covered his head with his pillow as he heard thumping from downstairs. His father had apparently developed a liking for building furniture muggle-style while he was away at school, which had resulted both in the house being full of more than a few suspect items, and in his father making rather a lot of commotion at varying hours of the day and night.

Much as he was glad that his dad had retired - and he was - he really wished that he would at least _try_ and keep relatively normal hours. Hammering random bits of wood into an item of furniture at one in the morning wasn't really appropriate, although judging from the lack of swearing so far he'd at least mastered hitting the wood rather than his thumb.

Thank Merlin for Remus and his greater knowledge of muggle tools; James had made him take the more deadly looking tools away with him, and had extracted a promise that he'd come back in a week to help him try and wrestle more of them away from his dad.

'James, stop that infernal racket!' His father's voice came booming along the landing, and James was on the verge of an indignant retort when he realised that if his father was shouting at _him_ to shut up, that meant he _wasn't_ responsible for the increasingly frantic thumping. Since he doubted his mother had taken it into her head to join in with her husband's hobby - and he'd like to assume that his father would have _noticed_ if his wife was missing from their room - then someone else was responsible for disturbing his sleep.

His _much-needed_ sleep.

Muttering to himself, he slid out of bed, grabbing his wand and wedging his feet into his slippers. He hurried down the stairs to the hall, following the banging noise...which was actually someone knocking on the front door.

He opened it cautiously, wand out; dangerous times after all. A tall dark haired boy pulling a trunk along behind him practically fell through the opened door, wobbling dangerously on a leg that looked suspiciously like it might be broken.

'Padfoot?' James reached for his best friend and pulled his arm across his shoulder, pulling the trunk from his hand and dropping it to the floor. 'Fucking Merlin! Look at the state of you!'

He hesitated for a moment then turned towards the drawing room, both leading and supporting Sirius. He kicked the door open and helped Sirius lower himself onto the nearest sofa before stepping back to get a good look at him.

His hair was wild, plastered across his face and some of it was stuck on what appeared to be a patch of blood; closer inspection proved it to be a nasty gash on his right jaw. The injured leg that he'd already noticed was bent at an unpleasant angle, and there was a large chunk of flesh missing from his left arm.

James summoned a house elf, and within moments the elf had gone and come back with a tray. James took the glass of water from it and offered it to Sirius who took it and gulped it down.

'Better?' James asked, offering him a second glass, this one containing a measure of firewhisky.

Sirius nodded, sipping at the alcohol. 'You've no idea.'

'What _happened_ Padfoot?'

Sirius let his head fall back into the softness of the sofa cushions. 'My beloved mother had arranged for some summer lessons for me and Reg. I just found a letter about them tonight when I was snooping through her things.'

James remained silent, well aware that Sirius often took a long time to get things out.

'These lessons...apparently they were to prepare us for our futures in pureblood society, and would be with Lucius Malfoy.'

James spluttered at that, but pulled himself together as Sirius continued.

'So when she walked in and found me going through her writing desk she wasn't best pleased, but she was even more pissed when I said that there was no way she was making me a Death Eater in training. She didn't exactly take it well; she locked me in my room and disappeared off to make plans with her bloody Voldemort groupies, and I saw my chance and legged it.'

He gulped some more firewhisky and stayed silent. James waited a moment before gently prodding. 'How'd you get hurt?'

Sirius rubbed his face. 'House elf caught me leaving, I didn't quite dodge the hex. Fast little shits when they want to be. Got me in the face, I lost my balance, tripped down the front steps, buggered my leg.' He paused, rubbing his hand over the wound on his forearm. 'And that's just where I splinched myself.'

James sat down with a thud. 'You _apparated_?'

Sirius shrugged, shifting to better accommodate his injured leg. 'Had to try something. Mummy dearest had the floo disconnected as soon as Reg and I got home from school, and I didn't have time to try and get my broom from the shed, so I figured legging it out the front door was my only option. Didn't think any further than that though, and once I was limping I knew I didn't have a lot of choices. Knight Bus wouldn't have got to me quick enough. So I just…apparated.'

'How the fuck did you do that Padfoot?'

'I don't know Prongs! I know the theory, and I just concentrated really hard on your house and…it worked, I don't fucking know do I?'

James sighed and hung his head. 'Well, for what it's worth, I'm glad it worked. I'm glad you're okay. We'll worry about the Ministry and everything tomorrow alright? Let's just get you cleaned up.'

He grabbed his wand from his pocket and began to cast whatever healing spells he could remember before he began to use dittany on the bleeding wounds. Sirius hissed as the liquid hit the gashes.

'Thanks Prongs.'

James looked up at him, his eyes more solemn than Sirius had ever seen them, including right after that screw-up with Snape and the Whomping Willow. 'And you can stay, you know that right? You can stay here as long as you like.'

A weight lifted right off his Sirius' heart. 'I can?'

James stopped dabbing dittany across Sirius' arm. 'Like I'd let you go anywhere else mate.'


	2. Hiding

**Prompt: AU: Remus, Sirius, James, and Lily meet and they're trying to hide the fact that they're all wizards and become really close, and one day one of them blurts out that he/she's a wizard/witch**

 **Rating: T**

* * *

'Remus!'

He blushed ever so slightly at the loud greeting from the corner of the pub, but he'd grown used to his new friends' rather boisterous attitude to life, so it was only a faint blush. A few months ago and he might have been tomato red.

'Noisy buggers, aren't they?' Lily was suddenly in the doorway behind him, shaking the rain off her coat as she took it off. Remus noted that neither James nor Sirius shouted anything at Lily; there was no telling what she'd shout back, and she had an awful lot of embarrassing information about all three of them.

'They are, but I do believe that you like that about them.'

'Hmm, I guess I do.' Lily threw her now damp coat over her arm and followed Remus to the corner of the pub that James and Sirius had commandeered for the evening.

'We need an extra chair.' Remus threw his coat at Sirius and turned to look for a spare chair.

'I'll get it.' James spoke up, his hand moving idly to his pocket for a moment before he got up quickly and went to grab an empty seat nearby.

He spun it around and offered it to Lily with a flourish; she laughed at him, but kissed his cheek quickly before she dropped down into the proffered chair.

'Tough day?' Sirius asked with a sympathetic grimace.

Lily sighed as she sank down into her chair a little further, her eyes drifting over to the bar where Remus was ordering their customary round. 'Awful. My supervisor is going bonkers over this new project. We're researching this artefact that's just come in, we think it might have belonged to Helg…', she trailed off abruptly for a second, then picked up her sentence again, 'an ancient Celtic queen or something. And apparently finding out everything we can is the only thing we should care about.'

Remus arrived back with the drinks, and Lily felt her lips twitch at the familiar sight of a G&T, a rum and coke, a half of lager and a pint of bitter.

Within minutes they were talking like they always did, like they'd known each other for years rather than months, and none of them suspected that each and every one of them was hiding a secret.

* * *

Two weeks later, and all four of them were leaving the exact same pub in high spirits, intent on visiting the local cinema two streets over. They chatted and laughed as they walked, enjoying each other's company and the warmth of the early spring evening.

The realisation that something wasn't quite right crept up on all of them as one by one they noticed the strange orange flicker coming from behind the windows of one of the houses that they were passing. It was only a moment later that they registered the smell of smoke, and all four of them turned and began to move towards the fire.

'Wait, you guys wait here.' James pushed his way in front of them and headed for the house.

'No, I'll go, you guys find a phone box to call the appliances.' Remus tried to push them away, but no-one was letting him.

All four of them started to argue amongst themselves, each of them insisting that they be the one to approach the house while the others moved away to safety. After only a few seconds of this, Sirius reached into his back pocket for something and shouted over them all.

'I'll go, because I can do fucking magic, all right?' He waved his wand vaguely at them. 'I'm a bloody wizard, and I'm _not_ mental, and I'll explain later, but I need to go in because I can use magic…'

'Er, Sirius…' Remus interrupted gently, his hand pulling a wand from under his coat. Sirius paused, mid rant, and the two of them turned to face James and Lily hesitantly, their expressions vaguely guilty.

Both of them looked sheepish, as they too produced wands and tried to avoid catching everyone else's eye.

James was the first to speak. 'So, I guess we can discuss this later, _after_ we've put out the fire, yes?'

A series of nods, and they all moved towards the burning building, everything else on hold temporarily.


	3. Not In Blood

**Prompt: brotherly prompt: james and sirius**

 **Rating: T**

* * *

Sirius had no idea why he was doing this, other than some strange sense of filial obligation, but here he was, doing it anyway. He'd always kept as eye on Reg, even though his younger brother was unaware of it, and would most certainly not thank him for it.

But it was because of that residual sense of brotherly protectiveness that he'd noticed the people Reg was spending time with these days, and realised what that meant for him. And that in turn meant that he had to try and intervene, if only so he could say that he had never abandoned him, even if he had done his best to abandon everything else that connected him to the house of Black.

He spotted Regulus making his way along the corridor, heading back to the Slytherin common room from the library, as he usually did at this time of night, and stepped out in front of him.

'Reg.'

Regulus stopped, but didn't verbally acknowledge Sirius; instead he just fixed his older brother with a stare that managed to be both accusatory and disdainful.

'You've been keeping dodgy company, and we both know exactly where you're going to end up if you keep on going with this. Being a Black, being a pureblood, being in Slytherin, doesn't mean that you have to be a bigot. And Reg, if you end up in the middle of this fight…I doubt you'll survive it. So just take a warning from me, alright? I'm not saying that you need to suddenly become a champion of the beleaguered, I'm just saying that you'd be better off distancing yourself from the bloody Death-Eaters-in-training, alright?'

Regulus said nothing, just stepped around his erstwhile brother and continued walking.

Sirius let him get out of sight before he allowed his shoulders to slump.

'You can come out now, I know you're there.'

James appeared from a shadowy corner, and Sirius shook his head. 'You aren't as good at following other people unnoticed as you think you are.'

James didn't even look offended. 'No-one but you, and maybe Moony and Pete, would have been able to tell.'

Sirius sighed and moved to lean against the wall, his hands stuffed in his pockets. 'What d'you reckon?'

James moved to stand alongside him, mimicking his pose. 'You gave it your best shot mate. He'll listen, or he won't. But you can't singlehandedly save him from this, not with so many people pushing him into it. He's got to learn to stand up for himself. You did, after all.'

Sirius snorted. 'Yeah, stood up for myself by abandoning the poor bugger to my mother.'

'Still, he can make his own choices. Lots of people are in tough spots; the muggleborns who can't decide whether to abandon magic completely to protect themselves, the purebloods who want nothing to do with the bigots but are terrified of saying so…plenty of us stuck between a rock and a hard place.'

'Still.' Sirius leant his head back and closed his eyes. 'I'm a shit brother.'

James shifted next to him. 'No Padfoot,' he said quietly, 'you're not. Not at all. And I should know.'

Sirius opened his eyes and looked over at his best friend, the barest hint of a smile appearing in the corner of his eyes. 'You're not so bad yourself you know.'

'Cheers.' James rolled his eyes at Sirius. 'Come on, let's get back. I've already had detention this week, I don't fancy another, especially not for something as dreary as being out after curfew.'

Sirius pushed himself off the wall and fell into step with James, with an ease of movement that had been practised and honed over years of close friendship; James slapped him on the back, and allowed his hand to linger for a moment, just long enough to convey his support.

As they made their way back to Gryffindor tower, Sirius found himself thankful once again for ties that didn't depend on blood.


	4. The Mudblood and the Traitor

**Prompt: could you do a drabble of sirius and lily and how close friends they were at hogwarts?**

 **Rating: T**

* * *

NEWTs were a sod, and those were her final word on the subject. Her writing hand ached, her arm felt like it would detach at the shoulder at any moment from hauling the weight of her bag, and her head was foggy from a distinct lack of sleep. If she didn't know the route from the potions room to Gryffindor tower so well, she doubted she'd have managed to stay on course.

So when movement in one of the stairwells caught her eye as she passed, she wasn't quite so quick to react as she might normally have been and she found herself sprawled face down on the floor, her things spilling out of her bag around her.

Harsh laughter confirmed her suspicions that a trip jinx had been involved in that, so her hand sought her wand out from her pocket before she started to get up. Coming face to face with Avery and Mulciber, she found herself surprised that she wasn't already in a body bind; not only did those two not generally fight fair, they were both twisted enough to enjoy having people at their mercy. She'd never forgive _or_ forget the horrible thing they'd done to Mary.

'I shouldn't be surprised. You two are about the only people in this school thick enough not to understand the concept of a curfew.' She held her wand loosely in front of her. 'Thirty points from Slytherin for the both of you for attacking a prefect, and if you get shifting now you might just make it back to your snake hole before curfew. Or do you want to lose more points?'

Mulciber curled his lip. 'Mudbloods don't get to order _decent_ wizards around.'

Lily snorted incredulously. 'Okay, well, first of all when you see a decent wizard, be sure to point them out and I'll remember to take that into consideration. Secondly, it seems mudbloods get to order _everyone_ around; that's what my shiny, shiny Head Girl badge means. So, get back to your common room, or lose more points. And you'll be serving a detention with Professor Slughorn for the foul language too.'

Avery and Mulciber looked at each other before looking back at Lily and lifting their wands; she tightened her grip and waited for the hexes. She wouldn't cast the first curse, she _wouldn't_.

Turned out she didn't have to. Mulciber dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes, and Avery spun around to find Sirius Black with an amused smile and his wand in his hand.

'You two are going to be a right pair of wankers for your entire lives, you know that don't you?'

'Piss off Black!'

Sirius rolled his eyes. 'For Merlin's sake, drag your idiot mate back to your common room. I'd hate to have to do something more permanent to the two of you, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't.'

Avery looked as if he was going to argue, but then he lifted the bind on Mulciber and dragged him off towards the dungeons.

Lily knelt down and began to collect her things, and after a very brief moment she felt the reassuring warmth of Sirius kneeling down right alongside her. A second pair of hands joined hers in scooping up quills and parchment.

'All right, Evans?'

'Fine.' She hated that her voice quavered a little bit. 'Why wouldn't I be?'

'I don't know, maybe because two slugs masquerading as humans just insulted you as if it was their right to. And they would have tried to hurt you if they thought they could, for no real reason other than they enjoy it and they think you deserve it.'

'They're idiots, morons. They aren't worth thinking about.'

Sirius' hand closed over hers. 'That's exactly right Evans. So don't waste your time or your tears on them.'

She choked back the sob. 'Is it that obvious?'

'Maybe not to everyone.' Sirius answered easily. 'But I know you pretty well these days, and I also know exactly what it looks like when someone is desperately trying to pretend that they don't care.'

Lily sat back on her heels and looked into Sirius' face; it helped that she saw nothing there but an open expression of support. No pity, no outrage on her behalf. He understood. James, bless him, tried his hardest to, and Remus understood more than most but Sirius just _got it_.

'How are _you_ , Sirius?'

'Oh, you know. Still an outcast blood traitor. You?'

She managed a weak half-laugh. 'Still the mudblood girlfriend of a blood traitor.'

He elbowed her gently in the ribs. 'Thank Merlin for James, huh?'

She actually did laugh this time. 'Yeah. Thank Merlin for James.'

By the time they'd picked up all her stuff she felt a little better. By the time they reached Gryffindor tower she'd almost forgotten anything had happened, and after half a dozen rounds of exploding snap she felt like herself again.

Sirius was a little baffled by the hug he got as she headed up to bed, but as always he accepted her affection easily; she was determined that one day he would no longer be surprised that someone loved him.


	5. Whomped

**Prompt: could you maybe write your version of the whomping willow/snape incident please?**

 **Rating: T**

* * *

'No sidekicks today Black?'

The sneering voice was oh-too-familiar to Sirius, since he'd been hearing it every day for the last few years.

'I could say the same about you _Snivellus_. Or have they all got sick of being coated with grease every time you move your head?'

It came so easily to him sometimes, the cruelty. In a way he hated it, because it was such a _Black_ trait, but at times like these, when he could cut Severus Snape down without ever throwing a hex, he actually revelled in it. He turned around and stared at Snape, his eyes raking over him critically in a way he knew would drive the other boy mad with annoyance.

'You've changed your robes at least though. The patches on this one are _definitely_ in different places than the ones you were wearing yesterday.'

'Shut your mouth, before I shut it for you!' Snape's voice was low and furious, and Sirius felt his insides clench in triumph at the realisation that he'd managed to get under Snape's skin yet again.

'You were the one who decided to talk to _me_ Snivellus.' Sirius made sure his tone was mocking. 'I don't know what made you think you had any right to, but then again you've never been good at knowing your place have you?'

'At least I _have_ a place Black. You aren't even welcome in your own home anymore I hear? Not even your own mother wants you, not that _that's_ a surprise.'

It was a punch to the gut to hear it, every time. He _despised_ his mother, had _hated_ his father, but some part of him still wanted nothing more than to know that natural family support that so many of his classmates took entirely for granted. Still, he allowed nothing to show on his face; if there was one thing growing up in the Black household taught you, it was to show no weakness.

'Oh for Merlin's sake Snivellus, why don't you go and talk to somebody who _cares_ about your opinions? Oh, wait – _no-one does_.'

Snape's jaw moved slightly, indicating his irritation, but his lips stayed set in that thin smile he wore when he was at his most annoying. 'Big talk for someone walking through the castle on their own. Where are your _friends_ Black? Lupin hasn't been around at all today. Finally sick of you, is he?'

Everything suddenly clicked into place. 'Still snooping around after us Snape? Really, you haven't got anything better to do than follow us around, trying to find out what we're up to? Maybe you should try getting some friends, or even a girlfriend, if you can find someone stupid and blind enough to put up with you.'

Snape shrugged. 'Got friends. Not interested in a girlfriend. What I'd really love to do is get you and your little band of halfwits expelled. Because I _know_ you're doing something you shouldn't be.'

Sirius held his gaze. 'You mean like lining ourselves up to join a homicidal nutjob and commit crimes the minute we leave school?'

Snape paled a little, but held his ground, and Sirius let his cruel smile spread back across his face as he took a couple of steps forward. 'Tell you what Snivelly; you want to know something really secret about us? There's a passage underneath the Whomping Willow; you can get into it by pressing the knot on the trunk and immobilising the branches.'

He watched Snape pale at the mention of the tree, which had caused more than one injury amongst their classmates; playing chicken with its branches was one of the more common dares that students threw at each other.

'You want our secrets? Biggest one is under that tree _right now_. Shame you haven't got any backbone to actually go after it.'

He turned on his heel and strode away feeling a sense of satisfaction at having bested Snape yet again. He didn't feel the slightest bit of remorse for hinting at Remus' secret, because he knew that Snape, a Slytherin to the core, would never have the nerve to risk his own skin, not even to expose his most hated classmates.

He didn't glance back or give it a second thought, so he never saw the look of determination cross Snape's face.

* * *

'Not long now.' James sat in the window of their dorm room in Gryffindor tower, staring out the window at the Whomping Willow and the setting sun.

Sirius ignored him, long used to James' compulsive behaviour, but Peter looked up from his comic.

'Good, I hate the waiting bit.'

James laughed. 'Always the impatient one Wormtail.'

They fell back into an easy silence for a few moments, then James sat bolt upright. 'There's someone heading for the Willow.'

Peter got up and crossed over to the window. 'But Moony went over ages ago, right?'

'Yeah, Pomfrey took him over already. This must be someone sneaking off to the Forest or something…no, they're _definitely_ heading for the Willow.'

The shadowy figure paused some distance from the gently moving tree, and James and Peter continued to stare; they watched with horror as the branches stilled, and the figure moved cautiously towards the trunk of the Willow.

'Must be a teacher.' Peter said slowly. 'No-one else would know how to stop it like that.'

His words made Sirius suddenly get up and join them. 'He'd never have the fucking nerve…'

'What? Who?' James asked urgently.

Sirius swallowed hard. 'Snivellus. He was having a go at me earlier, asking about Moony, and I was winding him up, telling him that our biggest secret was under there if he had the guts to go in and look. I told him…I told him about the knot and the passage. But he doesn't have the spine, he's a coward…'

All three of them looked at the figure sneaking ever closer to the base of the trunk, and James' heart felt like it was clawing its way up his throat, because he _knew_ that he recognised that posture, that gait, and he _knew_ that his best mate was responsible for whatever awful thing was about to happen…and he couldn't let it happen.

He was across the room in seconds, disregarding Sirius and Peter's surprised shouts as he all but bowled them over. He flew down the stairs, ignoring the startled second year that he nearly took out in his frantic sprint, then he was across the common room and out of the portrait hole in moments, his legs moving almost without direction from his brain as he took the most direct route he could towards the main entrance.

He ran along corridors and down staircases, hoping like hell that he wouldn't bump into any teachers because for the first time in years he was out after curfew without map or cloak, thoughts of what might possibly be happening _right now_ playing out in the back of his mind. Remus would _never_ forgive himself, he'd torment himself about it, he'd leave Hogwarts and lock himself away….

He burst out of the main doors and belted across the lawn towards the Willow, still immobilised from where Snape had gone past. That was good, it didn't stay frozen long so he couldn't be that far behind…he slid into the passageway just as the branches started moving again, and as his eyes adjusted to the dark he caught sight of the outline of another person moving cautiously along the passageway in front of him, approaching the door at the far end.

Of course Snape wouldn't be charging along the passage, he had no idea what he was walking into, he'd be cautious…that had bought James valuable time to catch up with him. Now he just had to get him out of there.

'Snape!' He yelled, increasing his pace. 'Don't go any further, don't open the door…'

Snape turned with a start, and even from a distance James could see the sneer paint itself on his face. He turned back to the door, laid his hand on the handle with careful deliberation, then yanked it open.

He froze at the sight of the huge animal in the room behind the door, and he had barely a moment to register exactly what he was seeing – a werewolf, an actual bloody werewolf – before James' body slammed into the door and pushed it shut.

He turned furious eyes on Snape, reached out and seized his collar, dragging him bodily along the passageway back towards the school.

'You couldn't leave it alone could you?' He growled angrily, though he was clear headed enough to know that it wasn't _just_ Snape that he was furious with.

'Lupin…werewolf.' Snape stammered out, and James had seen enough people in shock to know that Snape was suffering from it quite severely at that moment; no doubt that was why he wasn't resisting James' rough hauling of him too much.

'What has _Remus_ ever done to you?' He demanded, not slackening his pace for a second. 'Why are you so determined to have a go at _him_? He doesn't deserve it!'

They'd reached the end of the passageway, and much as he was tempted to just open the door and throw Snape out, he hadn't come all this way to save him to get him maimed now. So he cracked the door cautiously and peered out, surprised to note that the branches were not moving. He poked his head out further, and saw three figures standing just a few feet away; Sirius and Peter standing just behind a very stern-faced Professor McGonagall.

Shit.


	6. The Brothers Black

**Prompt: I was wondering if you could do a Drabble of Sirius and regulus, preferably involving James or regulus being jealous of James**

 **Rating: T**

* * *

The letter flew across the room, thrown by a careless hand, and landed on Sirius' bed. He glanced up and saw his younger brother outlined in the doorway.

'Thanks Reg.' He picked up the letter and began to tear the envelope open carelessly. 'Surprised _she_ let you bring it up.'

'She didn't.' Regulus leaned his shoulder against the doorframe and folded his arms as he watched his older brother with dead eyes. 'She's taken to her bed again, and I got to the mail first.'

Sirius snorted. 'Ill again, is she? Let me guess, she's sickened by her oldest son, and quite overcome by his lack of gratitude and _disgraceful_ lack of propriety, and finds it impossible to bring herself to get out of bed and look at his _ungrateful_ face.'

Sirius' impression of his mother's voice and facial expressions were dead-on, but Regulus couldn't bring himself to smile at them. His family was breaking further apart every day, and every day he wished that his brother had never gone to Hogwarts at all, had never put on that sorting hat, had never been sorted into that stupid house.

He didn't care so much himself – Sirius was still his big brother, after all – but his mother had exploded with fury at the revelation. Then Sirius had come home less than a fortnight ago full of tales of his new friends and his exploits, and his mother's earlier rage was _nothing_ compared to the ire this new information had provoked.

She'd raged and screamed about the Potter family, their inferiority, their lack of respect for their forebears, and Sirius had raged and screamed back about her outdated views and James Potter's brilliance. Regulus had seen it all from behind a bookcase, neither party aware he was there. Both of them would have been mortified, Sirius because he'd always tried to avoid exposing Regulus to anything unpleasant and their mother because she would have been appalled at the idea of her younger son seeing her oldest defy her. But he'd seen, and he'd felt not just fear at the gulf opening up in his family, but a raging jealousy towards the boy responsible.

He cleared his throat and waited for Sirius to look up before he spoke. 'Who's it from?'

'James.' Answered Sirius with a grin. 'Listen to this, he played a prank on his aunt, it was _brilliant_ , he…'

'I don't care.'

Sirius stopped and looked up from his letter. 'You what?'

'I _don't care_ about anything your friend did, I don't care about all the cool stuff you did at school, I just want my brother back! You've been locked up here for days because you won't stop having a go at Mother, I've barely seen you and when I have all you've talked about is _James_.' Regulus was finally saying the things he'd been wanting to say for days, and now he was spitting them at his brother with a venom he hadn't realised that he had in him, and he couldn't _stop_.

'James said this, me and James did that! You haven't shut up about him and it's making Mother crazy and if you'd just _stop talking about him_...'

'Shut. Up.' Sirius was on his feet suddenly, and moving towards Regulus. 'You don't understand, you don't know what it's like to be out of here, away from her and that bloody deranged elf, away from all those stuffy old bastards with their etiquette and their obsession with their family trees…'

'What about me?' Regulus yelled back. 'I'm your brother, and you barely wrote to me all year, and now you're home we haven't done anything! No flying, no chess, nothing! Because you've been shut in your room because you _won't stop fighting with her_!'

'And I probably never will!' Sirius finally yelled back. 'Because she's wrong, she's wrong about everything, all the pureblood rot, it doesn't _matter_!'

'Did _James_ tell you that?' Regulus spat, and Sirius scowled.

'Yeah, but he wasn't the only one, I promise.' He turned back to his bed and picked up his discarded letter. 'Obviously you don't want to listen to anything I have to say, so you might as well get out.'

He didn't turn back around, just sat on his bed and began to read his letter in the most obvious way he could. Regulus stood there for a moment, hoping that his brother would relent, would turn and face him and agree to tone done the rows enough to satisfy their mother, but after a moment he knew it was hopeless.

He turned and sloped off down the hallway, his shoulders slumped, as he faced the reality that a summer spent with his brother at home might actually be worse than the past school year _without_ him.


	7. Consequences

**Prompt: Was wondering if you could do Severus being jealous over lily and James throughout their relationship**

 **Rating: T**

* * *

She was right there, there on the station platform, but she might as well have been on the other side of the world, because he couldn't touch her, couldn't _speak_ to her even. He'd _tried_ , he'd tried so many times this summer: he'd knocked on her front door, but she'd just slammed it in his face; he'd waited for her to leave the house and followed her up the street apologising, but she just kept on walking like he wasn't even there; after he'd spent hours waiting in the park one day, he realised that she'd stopped going to the places that she usually went to, places that she knew he might be.

She was never going to speak to him again.

And whose fault was that? The nasty little voice in the back of his head had been parroting that question all summer. Who lost his temper? Who called her _that_ word? Who'd spent five years pretending that when Avery and Nott and Mulciber said _that_ word that it didn't apply to her?

'Oi, Evans! How was your summer?'

That voice, that confident shout across the platform made him scowl, and all of those little twinges of self-doubt that he'd been having all summer vanished right there. _Potter_. That's whose fault it was. Him and Black, and their stupid little gang. Potter had been trying to get his claws into Lily for years - even if she couldn't see it, _he_ could - and he'd managed to separate Lily from him at last. He probably thought he had an open run at her now. Well, they'd see about that. Lily would see right through him. And now they were at school again, she couldn't avoid him anymore; they'd be in the same classes, they'd be potions partners, prefects together. They'd fix it, and things would go back to normal.

Lily turned when she heard her name shouted, and he smiled in anticipation of his first proper look at her that morning. It slid right off his face when he saw her grin widely at the lanky boy jogging towards her.

'I have a first name you know. It's Lily. _LILY_.'

Potter grinned at her as he came to a stop in front of her and ran a hand through his hair. 'I know that. It's just doesn't have the same ring as _Evans_ when you yell it across a station platform.'

She laughed at that, and his fingers clenched into angry fists. She _laughed_ at _Potter_. Since when was Potter funny? Had she forgotten what he was like, the way he strutted around, the way he picked fights, played his stupid pranks on people?

'You didn't have to yell at me you know.'

'I know, it's just fun to make you jump. Want me to take your trunk? Marlene is in our compartment winding Sirius up, it's good entertainment if you want to sit with us on the way.'

He tensed up. He hadn't thought about who she'd sit with; she'd always sat with him. She might have gone off to spend an hour or so with her other friends, but for five years they'd put their trunks in the same compartment and sat together.

'Sure, sounds good.'

A little bit of his heart died right there, when he realised that Lily Evans really, truly, didn't hate James Potter the way he'd always thought - hoped - she did.

* * *

'Good morning, good morning!' Slughorn's voice was jovial as he surveyed his NEWT class. 'An excellent uptake I see, lovely to see you all back for NEWTS!'

He glanced around anxiously, paying no attention to Slughorn's cheerful explanation of how the NEWT course would be structured; right then, the only thing he was interested in was that Lily wasn't here. She wouldn't drop potions, it wasn't just her best subject, it was her _favourite_.

The other Gryffindors were here, so it couldn't have been something related to the house. Potter, Black and Lupin had arrived together, and Potter had shoved Black into the seat beside Lupin and sat on his own in front of them. He curled a lip contemptuously. Obviously Potter thought he was up to working alone. He'd always been arrogant, conceited…

The door opened, and Lily appeared. He straightened up in his seat and looked right at her, trying to look welcoming without seeming eager.

'Sorry sir, Professor McGonagall needed to see me about my class choices...'

'Of course m'dear, she told me yesterday that you'd be late. She knew I'd be quite panicked if you weren't here for my potions class! What would my NEWT class be without you Miss Evans?'

'Not half as enchanting sir.'

Slughorn roared with laughter. 'Take a seat Miss Evans, take a seat!'

He moved his bag over a little further, to give her room to set hers down...and by the time he looked up she'd slid into the empty seat next to Potter and they were whispering. He strained his ears to hear them.

'Thanks.' Lily's voice, low and quiet.

Potter shrugged. 'You ask me to save you a seat, your wish is my command.'

Her lips twitched slightly. 'What if I meant for you to save me a seat next to Remus?'

'My potions mark needs you more than Remus' does.'

'Liar. You're very good at potions.'

'Not as good as you.'

She tossed her hair and gave him a superior look. 'Well, who is?'

Potter snickered, and after only a moment Lily dropped her pose and giggled along with him. If he didn't know better he'd almost think they were _flirting_.

* * *

He stalked his way to the Head Boy's office, and hammered on the door. An irritated shout came from inside, and after a moment the door was yanked open.

'What?' Diggory scowled at him. 'Where's the fire, Snape?'

He pulled his schedule out and waved it under Diggory's nose. 'Why is the schedule changed from last year?'

Diggory looked down his nose at him. 'Because last year, Lisa and I weren't Head Boy and Girl. We've decided to do things differently.'

'I'm with Violet Simmonds every patrol until Christmas!' He complained bitterly. 'Why aren't we switching patrol partners any more?'

Diggory sighed heavily and folded his arms. 'If you must know Snape, we spoke to all the Heads of houses and they supported mine and Lisa's argument that it would be better to have permanent pairings, to ensure a better working relationship between the partners. You'll get to know your patrol partner, and so you'll work more comfortably together. We then spent some considerable time devising male/female pairings that would work well together, and where no pair were members of the same house. And since it took so much time and effort, if you have a problem with Violet Simmonds then I suggest you get over it, because I'm not bloody changing it!''

'I don't have a problem with her, I just...why am I paired with her? I don't think I've ever had a single class with her, I don't think I've ever spoken to her.'

'Well, funnily enough we didn't take who you'd most like to work with into account.' Diggory shrugged. 'If you were hoping to corner Lily Evans on patrol rounds, then you'll have to find another way won't you?'

He clenched his fists at that. How dare he? He didn't know anything about this, _nothing_ ….

'Lisa knows Lily quite well you know.' Diggory continued conversationally. 'And there was no way she was going to pair her with _you_.'

Diggory stared at him, never blinking or flinching until Snape turned on his heel and marched away. He was so furious with the whole situation that he paid no attention where he was going until he collided with someone and heard a grunt.

'Watch it! Oh, it's you.' James Potter's voice went from aggravated to cool in seconds.

' _You_ watch it Potter.' He snarled, glad to be able to take his ire out on the right person.

'You barged right into him.' A sharp feminine voice came from Potter's side, and he turned to face Lily Evans as she spoke to him for the first time in months. 'So look where you're going when you're walking.'

She walked off, and with a quick smirk in his direction, Potter followed her, his long legs easily catching up and falling into step alongside her.

He watched them go, his heart beating an unsteady rhythm behind his ribs. Once she might have sided with him, would have walked off with him, would have been laughing with him right now….

She aimed a gentle slap at Potter's side even as she laughed at whatever he'd said. Despite their many years of friendship, he wasn't sure he'd ever known her to be as affectionately _touchy_ with him.

His heart stopped its strange palpitations; it felt like it stopped entirely. It felt like it _shattered_ , and then ripped it's way through the rest of his guts.

Lily and Potter weren't _friends_. She didn't treat her friends like that, she hadn't been like that with him, wasn't like that with Lupin or that McKinnnon girl…

She _fancied_ him. Lily Evans fancied James Potter, and the second Potter found the nerve to ask her again...she'd be lost to him entirely, if she wasn't already.

* * *

He blocked out Mulciber's brash voice and focused on staring out of the window. The train was leaving any moment, and where was she? Flirting with Potter while Black, Lupin and Pettigrew looked on with amusement.

They probably weren't the only ones. He scowled at the thought. Plenty of people had noticed the flirtation between Lily and Potter, and for those who'd been watching it had been a surprise that they'd made it to the end of their sixth year without so much as going on a date. He stayed hopeful that that meant that he'd misunderstood their relationship, and that she just treated Potter a little differently.

He glanced up at the open window, then back at where Lily was standing with Potter, the two of them alone now. He flicked his wand and quietly muttered a quick charm to enhance his hearing, looking down at his book so he didn't appear to be paying attention.

'...going to be strange, not seeing you every day.' Lily's voice came through clearly. 'It's always lousy going home every summer and not being able to do magic, but it's worse now that I don't have anyone to at least talk about it with.'

'Well, I'll write.' Potter answered earnestly. 'And so will Remus, and maybe Padfoot and Wormtail might too. They're lousy letter writers, but hey ho.'

She giggled then, and he chanced a quick glance out of the window. Potter was rubbing a hand up and down her arm soothingly as he spoke to her in low, affectionate tones. Where did James Potter get off _touching_ Lily Evans? She wasn't _his_ , she wasn't one of those stupid girls that fell for the messy hair, and the arrogant smirk and the I'm-better-than-you attitude. How _dare_ he?

'Maybe we can get your house hooked up to the floo? I'll ask Dad.' Potter continued. 'Then we can talk that way.'

Oh yes Potter, ask _daddy_. Get your rich bloody parents who think the sun shines out of your arse to make sure you get everything you want, just like always. Bloody Potter, thinks everything should just _fall into his lap_ …

'...and maybe...maybe you could come visit me for a few days. You know, at some point.' Potter's hesitant sounding suggestion made the broken and twisted remnants of what had once been his heart squeeze painfully, though not as badly as Lily's next words did.

'I'd like that.'

* * *

Potter was Head Boy. _Potter was Head Boy_.

The unfairness of it wasn't to be believed. Was there _anyone_ in the world with the nerve to deny that cocky arrogant git _anything_? He'd been thrilled when Potter hadn't been made a prefect - at last, an indication that someone else recognised that he was a dangerous fool - then annoyed when he'd become Quidditch captain, effectively giving him most of the privileges of being a prefect with none of the responsibility. But he'd never _once_ imagined that he'd be made Head Boy.

And Lily was Head Girl.

They'd be together all the time, planning the rotas, organising Hogsmeade visits, counting up the points. They'd be alone, in the Heads offices and private common room. Potter would get to see her even more than he did now, would get to talk to her, make her laugh…

Potter, as usual, would get everything.

* * *

It couldn't be true, couldn't be, he couldn't handle this.

He sat in the dark corner of the Three Broomsticks, gripping his bottle of butterbeer with tense fingers. He'd heard the rumours of course, who hadn't? So he'd come down to Hogsmeade early, alone, and settled down in this very corner to wait, hoping that he wouldn't see anything that would prove the rumours were true.

It was just after half past eleven when he suddenly wished he'd never thought of this, wished he hadn't decided to put himself through it.

Potter had strutted his way in through the door not five minutes ago, and Lily had followed him shyly in, her gloved hand clutched tightly in his. They were breathless, red-cheeked, and seemed to be laughing very hard about something. They acknowledged greetings from a number of people with shouted hellos and waves, then they took a seat...at the table directly alongside his, concealed from him only by the drape of the curtain that kept him shrouded in gloom.

'I'll grab some drinks. Butterbeer?' Potter asked, dropping his cloak on the spare chair and grinning at Lily.

'Sounds good.' She answered lightly. 'Ask Rosmerta for some chips as well would you?'

'It's _half past eleven_.' Potter responded, his tone of voice incredulous.

'And your date is both cold and hungry.' Lily answered cheerily. 'You want to make a good _first date_ impression don't you? Butterbeer, and chips please.'

Potter shook his head and pulled his money bag out of his pocket. 'Evans, if you weren't so bloody fit, I swear I'd never put up with you.'

Lily blew him a kiss.

He'd stopped breathing, his lungs didn't work anymore. His heart hadn't functioned properly for months anyway. His brain refused to process what it had just heard.

 _First_ _date_. _**First date**_.

So all those rumours had been true. James Potter had asked Lily Evans out for the third time, and this time she'd said yes.

 _Why_? Why in Salazar's name had she said yes? How could she even look at him, the egotistical, arrogant, self-centred…

How could she let him say things like that to her? How could she have been won over by him?

 _How in God's name had all this gone so very wrong?_

* * *

He turned a corner and swore internally. Was there no escaping them?

They were curled up in one of the window seats that made this corridor such a popular spot for couples in the evenings. Of course this was the middle of the afternoon, so they were just sitting together, Lily leaning back against Potter while his hand twirled a lock of her hair around and around.

He felt an irrational urge to curse Potter's hand off, and take that _treacherous_ bit of her hair with it.

He couldn't see what they were watching so intently through the window, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that Lily, his Lily, was sitting on James Potter's lap, her back pressed against his front and his hands in her hair. He shouldn't ever have had opportunity to touch her, should never have been allowed to, to, _sully_ her with his disgusting Quidditch calloused hands.

'I almost wish I could see them. The thestrals.' Lily was speaking quietly, sounding introspective. 'I know that sounds terrible, because I'd have to see someone die for that to happen, but I'd just like...'

'To see them.' Potter finished where she'd trailed off, his voice softer than he'd ever heard it before. His hand stopped twirling her hair and instead slid down her arm to twine his fingers around hers. 'That's not a bad thing Lily. You're just curious that's all, about everything. That's a good thing, it's one of my favourite things about you. I love that you want to experience everything for yourself.'

He stiffened, feeling his hands clench into fists. He wanted so desperately to pull out his wand and curse James Potter until he dropped his stupid act. Did he really think Lily would be fooled by this pretence at sensitivity and understanding? Did he really think that _anybody_ would be fooled?

'I'm sorry that you can see them James.' Lily whispered, and Potter stiffened for a moment before relaxing his posture again.

'It's okay. Mum was...I had a long time to come to terms with it before it happened. I got to say goodbye. That made a difference.'

Lily began to wriggle, until she'd turned around in his arms and was facing him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly, pressing her face into the joint of his neck and shoulder as his hands rubbed her back.

He turned and fled, before he could see anymore, before it could be made any clearer to him that he'd lost her for good. And of all the people she could have taken up with, she chose Potter. For the first time, resentment overtook pain as his dominant feeling.

* * *

It was a warm day, so he was surprised that there weren't more people outside; he'd hadn't passed anyone since beginning his walk around the lake. It was still early though, so perhaps everyone was starting their Saturday late.

He path rounded a corner, and groaned. Not _everyone_.

Potter and Lily lay on the grass, in a little dip in the ground that meant they were only just visible from the path. She was lying on her back, one hand lifted to shield her eyes from the sun, and he was stretched out alongside her and propped up on his elbow to look down at her. They were talking quietly, and were so completely engrossed in each other that he was sure he could walk quietly past without them noticing him. He was almost past them when he heard it.

'I love you, you know.' Potter's voice, low and soft.

'I know. You tell me enough.' Lily's voice, a hint of a giggle in it. 'I love you too.'

He ran. He didn't know what else he could do, since he couldn't stay there. He felt like he never wanted to set foot in Hogwarts ever again. He didn't want to see them anymore, walking around as if they weren't rubbing his face in their perfect fucking lives with every thing they did.

They had no right.

And that was the moment that Severus Snape realised that he could never hate anyone more than he hated James Potter.


End file.
